Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Kirk Hendrick has implemented a rule change designed to speed up the equipment approval process, according to a local report in the Nevada Independent. The recent change will allow the Chairman to solely determine if field tests are necessary for new equipment.
Hendrick said in a recent notice that “certain new gaming devices or modifications to existing equipment will no longer require a field trial in a Nevada casino as long as another state’s gaming regulatory agency has signed off on the equipment.”
The notice officially took effect near the end of last month.
Hendrick based the idea for the change after gaming equipment developers voiced concerns during a work in March, according to the local report. During the workshop, developers complained that the process to bring new slot machines and other technology to Nevada’s casino was too slow.
Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM) Executive Director Daron Dorsey told the Nevada Independent that Hendrick’s change to streamline the approval process is “a good start that eliminates several steps.”
Dorsey was among those who attended the March workshop, which was part of an effort to eliminate at least ten regulations by May 1, as part of a directive Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo issued at the beginning of the year.
Regulators are currently working to decide which outdated regulations can be removed in compliance with the governor’s directive.
Hendrick told local news that this change to state regulations is the first “and probably not the last move to speed up the gaming equipment approval process.”
